The present invention relates to a control system of an agricultural vehicle controlling a controllable goods carrier of the agricultural vehicle, especially a discharge spout of a forage harvester, for conveying goods to a target area, said control system comprising a 3D imaging device for providing frames imaging at least part of the target area, a data processor and a memory, said control system deriving information from the frames for controlling the goods carrier.
The invention further relates to an agricultural vehicle comprising a control system, and to a method of controlling a controllable goods carrier of an agricultural vehicle by means of a control system.
DE 44 26 059 A1 discloses a harvester with an ejecting spout or discharge spout for ejecting harvested material into a crop-carrying container of a transport wagon. A camera is attached to the lower side of the spout at a distance from its ejecting end. The camera provides an image of the end of the spout and the open top of the crop-carrying container, said image being transferred to a monitor in the driver's cabin. It is further suggested that image processing is used to provide control of the spout to maintain it aimed at the open top of the crop-carrying container in order to automatically ensure that the ejected crop will always hit its target: the open top of the crop-carrying container.
EP 1 344 445 A1 discloses a harvester with an ejecting spout or discharge spout with a hood for directing material ejected from the spout. A camera is attached to the hood and thus the camera will always have its direction of view parallel to the direction of ejecting of the spout. It is suggested to use two cameras and to stitch together two images provided thereby thus providing a larger field of view. In the alternative only one camera may be used at a time, namely the camera providing the best image.
EP 2 020 174 A1 suggests using e.g. a stereo camera attached to a spout of a harvester for providing three-dimensional or 3D images of a transport or storage container, into which the spout is pouring harvested goods to load the container therewith, to be able to control the spout and the transfer of goods. It is suggested to derive from the images so-called patterns of the storage container, its surroundings, and the filling level of goods in the storage container, respectively. The patterns can be structured as 3D patterns, shape patterns, texture patterns and/or color patterns. It is further suggested that based on the shifts of these patterns from one image to the next it is possible to derive the speed of travel and steering movement of the harvester, the speed of travel and steering movement of the storage container, and variations of loading conditions and variations of the position of the spout in space, respectively.
When conveying goods to a target area by means of a goods carrier, e.g. a discharge spout of a forage harvester, and monitoring the conveyance by means of a 3D imaging device, e.g. a stereo camera, problems may arise due to dust and bits of goods, e.g. leaves and parts of leaves, scattered in the air around the goods carrier and in the area between the goods carrier and the target area and creating noise in the images provided by the 3D imaging device. This in turn makes it difficult to control the goods carrier in an appropriate manner based on the images. Thus it is hard for prior art control systems to distinguish the target area and goods that is deposited in the target area from noise such as dust and debris scattered in the air between the goods carrier and the target area.